Codex: Space Wolves Review, Part One – General Observations

Posted by Ranillon on 9. October 2009 01:11

Once more a Warhammer 40K codex has appeared in your local gaming store and this time it’s the Space Wolves, something which the long suffering – “What, was our codex written in the 19th century?” – Wolf players no doubt appreciate.  Yet, just how good is the codex and what does it mean for the rest of us who don’t play space puppies?

The first thing one notices about the codex even after a brief examination is that it certainly has a sufficiently high coolness factors to catch your interest.  That is, you flip through the book, read a few choice rules, and say to yourself, “Wow!”  That in turn means that you have a reason to dig further and see just what gems you can find.

And, there are certainly some to discover.  While there is only two new units – Thunderwolf Cavalry and Lone Wolves (although the latter is more of a technicality) – all the rest tend to have important changes that both make it more interesting and, arguably, more effective.  Options are still varied, but more straightforward.  You can still take wolves for your characters (even as mounts!), a wide assortment of Viking-styled talismans and weapons, and you can arrange your force as much as always.

All Space Wolves come with Acute Senses, Counter-Attack, and – of course – “And They Shall Know No Fear.”  The middle ability is especially nice as it means you get extra attacks whether charging or charged.  True Grit is gone, but that’s okay since there are still plenty of ways to make ‘Wolves close-combat monsters.  In fact, they are now clearly the best hand-to-hand Marine force around – sorry Blood Angels.

There are still only two troop choices – Blood Claws and Grey Hunters.  They are near duplicates of their previous incarnation.  The Blood Claws have less skill, but the same old bonus to charging.  Likewise, Grey Hunters represent the backbone of any ‘Wolf force.  They cannot take any heavy weapons, but can take two special weapons if you take a full sized squad.  Both troop choices can take a power weapon and a few other abilities that add close-combat potency.  For instance, the Mark of the Wulfen gives you d6+1 rending attacks!

Space Wolves otherwise have much the same units and vehicles as straight Space Marines – minus the Thunderfire cannon and such – but with classic Wolf adjustments that manage to make them different even as they seem the same.  The Leman Russ Executioner is gone (big surprise), but all the variations of Land Raiders, Drop Pods, and Razorbacks have been added.  One rather odd fact I just don’t understand is that Space Wolf Land Raiders have gone back to only carrying ten models – what, do they buy them at the Dark Angels surplus store?  Is GW trying to be annoying?  Is this a dumb misprint or can they not make up their minds?  Sheesh!

In my opinion the best unit in the codex are the Wolf Guard.  There are a bunch of highly effective tactics you can use with them, especially if Logan Grimnar comes along.  In fact, the Guard comes with so many interesting possibilities that I want to devote a whole article just to them and how they can be used as an alternative means to play Deathwing. 

Speaking of commanders – in this case the special character type – bar none the Space Wolves have largest group of bad asses in the Imperium.  Their costs average above 200 points and two of them allow you to alter the design of your army – Logan can let you use World Guard as troops while Canis Wolfborn lets wolves be troops.  That allows for two fundamentally different army builds right there.  Maybe they are good, maybe they are bad, but at least they are interesting.  Regardless, the Space Wolf Characters are just impressive.  Expensive also to be sure, but when it comes to Chapter bragging rights it’s more power and skill than some game mechanic that matters.  So, if you aren’t playing the new straight Marines or these new wolves your special character marines just became second best.  Plus, he fact that Wolves also get Sagas puts them highest on the Imperial power scale (while adding a bit of role-playing).

Generally speaking Space Wolves come off as a close-combat army – really, the best – with a range of the standard Space Marine units to provide proper steel and fire.  So, my task next time will be to work through the units within the new codex and go in deeper to just what they can do.

Part two coming soon…